Printer Region Change

[b223]

Hello Bob.  I'm hoping you can help.  I have a HP 8600 officejet that is locked in the z40 region.  I was on the phone with HP all day yesterday to get it reset to z10.  We were able to get all the way to the end where they put in the codes, but the printer rejected the reset.  They said the magenta and yellow chips were not functioning properly and causing the issues.  Do you have any thoughts or ideas?  They basically told me I need a new printer for it to properly read z10 cartridges.  Do you know what would happen if I changed printheads?  The printer still works great and I still have a bunch of ink.  Any ideas would be much appreciated.  Thank you.

[Bob_Headrick]

On the front panel of the printer go to the home screen and press the ink droplet icon at the top of the screen.  Next touch the black rectangle.  At this point a new window will open that says "installed cartridge" and "Supported cartridge".  What are the cartridge numbers listed?  Are there any error messages regarding the cartridges - is the printer complaining about them being low on ink, or depleted, or some error?  Press the "Print report" button in the lower right.  Does an error page print?  It would be interesting if you could scan the report and post it (with sensitive information in lines 3 and 18 blacked out) here.

The "chips" are on the ink cartridge, not in the printhead assembly.  There are some gold fingers on the printhead assembly that contact the chips on the cartridge.  You might try the following:  remove the ink cartridges and inspect them.  With the cartridge in its normal upright position as it sits in the printer the chip is in the front upper left side of the cartridge. There are four gold fingers on the chip that will contact with gold contacts in the printer.  Note where these would contact the printhead assembly.  Next, with the cartridges removed, shine a flashlight into the printhead assembly.  Compare the matching pins for each of the cartridges.  Are the yellow and magenta pins damaged?  Compare them to the cyan and black cartridges' pins.  If the pins are damaged it may be possible to fix things without needing to replace the printhead.  In this case carefully remove the printhead and gently bend the pins back into the proper position.  Be careful not to let the nozzles of the printhead touch anything - the nozzle kapton material is rather fragile and can be easily damaged.  If the pins are bent beyond repair or broken you will likely need a new printhead (or printer...).

Note:  The most common cases I see of damaged pins on the printhead are due to cartridges that have been refilled and a new chip has been attached over the original.  This causes the chip to be too thick, causing the pins to be bent when the cartridge is installed in the printhead assembly.  Are your spare cartridges HP or third party?  Likely you will need genuine HP cartridges to perform the reset.

How many times did they have you try the reset codes?  There is a very limited number of unsuccessful reset attempts allowed before the printer is locked. 

I am curious - how did you call?  The Officejet Pro 8600 printers are all old enough that they are out of warranty.  While the reset procedure is based on cartridge warranty rather than printer warranty, it can be difficult on the HP site to get a valid phone number to call if the printer is not in warranty.   I have seen folks having good success posting to the HP Support Facebook page here.

[b223]

Thank you so much for the reply.  Unfortunately, because the printer is unable to read the z10 cartridges I can't get to the home screen and subsequently the droplet icon screen on the printer.   However, I had been using older cartridges without any z-codes and the printer worked fine and it also worked when I had used a z40  cartridge.  

According to the techs I talked with, the information from the 'secret easter egg window' indicated that there is an issue with the chips reading the magenta and yellow cartridges.  They said they know this because there is a minus (or negative) sign next to the number of these two cartridges in the secret window. I took a screen shot of this window and inserted it below this paragraph.  The way I understand things is that they use this information to generate the reset codes.  I have not attempt to reset the region prior to the failed attempts (I believe they tried 3 different times with no avail).  The interesting thing about the minus sign next to the cartridge numbers is that if I have the old cartridges in the printer and then open the secret window, there are not any minus signs in front of those 2 numbers.  I even had another set of z10 cartridges here and tried them, but they also had a minus sign in front of those 2 numbers.  

That's why I was wondering if the printheads stored the region information and if a new or different printhead would allow me to use the z10 cartridges.  Or, if the 'chips' from a different printhead would be able to allow me to move forward with the reset.  Again, I wasn't sure where the region information is stored on the printer.  

I do find it interesting that the old, non regionalized, cartridges appeared without the minus sign and the z10 cartridges are the ones showing up with the minus signs.  And again, I was told by two tech agents that this was causing the printer to reject the regionalization codes.

Thanks for the tips on the printhead pins.  I visually inspected the pins and they visually do not appear to be damaged.  And again, the read the older cartridges just fine.  

Haha.  I did have quite the challenge to connect to a human being on the support #'s.  When I first called the automated number I was connected with an instant ink person on accident, but she gave me the direct # for tech support which did help.  However, I didn't have a case # at the time and I kept running into the automated brick wall.  Thanks to one of your other posts, I was able to figure out how to create a case # and then I was able to get connected with only minimal waiting.  Quite the circus though, as I believe I was on the phone for a total of 6+ hours total.  And still no resolution yet.  😞  

Again, other than this current dilemma, this printer has worked great with absolutely no problems.  Yes, it is a 10 year old printer, but I'd love to not have to replace it unnecessarily.  

Thanks again for all your help.

[b223]

Looks like the image isn't showing in the message.  Here are the numbers from the window:

Printer SN: XXXXXXXX

Total Page Count: 13152

Magenta Cartridge ID: -2023107356

Cyan Cartridge ID: 2024460972

Yellow Cartridge ID: -2100280352

Black Cartridge ID: 1799562184

RX (last 4 digits): 0000

[Bob_Headrick]

OK, I took a look at the image you posted and it was rejected because it included the reset codes.  There only apply to your printer and if someone else tried to use them it could lock up their printer.

I share your thoughts on the 8600 - I have the 8600 Plus and it is my primary printer here even though I have several newer models.  Mine is not quite as old, I bought it in 2013 and use it almost daily. 

I would not suggest replacing the printhead as it would not likely make any difference. The region information is not stored in the printhead, it is in the printer's nonvolatile storage and the cartridges.  You might find an 8600 Plus on eBay or perhaps Craigslist for less than the cost of a new printhead.  

I do not know if it will help at this point (since there have been three attempts to reset the region), but I would suggest trying the HP Facebook Support page I linked above.  You may need to wait until Monday for agents to be available.

[b223]

Thank you for the information Bob.  I do have great news!  Another community expert reached out to me via direct message yesterday and after another failed reset attempt; he had me put the old (non-z) cartridges back in the printer.  I gave him the #'s from the secret window for those cartridges and he gave me reset codes based off that information.  I'm happy to report that the printer accepted the reset.  He then advised me to power the machine off and on and then try reinstalling the z10 cartridges.  The printer accepted the cartridges and is now locked in the z10 region!  The printer is back to working flawlessly and I'm ecstatic to be able to keep the printer and use all of my extra ink cartridges.  Thanks again for your help and insights.  

[Bob_Headrick · Accepted solution]

That is good news, the Officejet Pro 8600 is too nice a printer to scrap.

I am sending you a private message.